Iron Mountain ski jump

Saturday, February 11, 2017

HERE’S YOUR NEW JOB Sa, 2-11-17

CHRIST IN WINTER:
Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

So this week I got an
email from Dave Johnson. I know Dave Johnson, several of them in fact, so I
opened it. It was, indeed, addressed directly to me, “Dear John,” and all. Dave
said he had an opening he thought might interest me. It’s a 20 hour per week
position at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rhinelander, WI. As a phlebotomist.

For many years I thought that
a phlebotomist was a proctologist for fleas, a very delicate and not highly
desirable vocation. But I learned during chemotherapy that a phlebotomist is
the jolly person who dresses up as Count Dracula for the hospital Halloween
party and does scary things to you as you look the other way. [Well, that last
part pretty much describes everyone in the hospital, including the food service
people.]

Okay, I understand that
there are people who think I have too much time on my hands, that I post too
much on Facebook and write this column too often. I did not think, however,
that someone would go to the trouble to try to keep me busy by getting me a job
in Rhinelander… I mean, the commute alone… who would…

Wait. I remember now how I
used to walk past the location of a new restaurant in the mall in Sterling, IL
in the morning. Lots of other old people walked then, too. The restaurant had a
big sign on the window that said they were hiring. Every old couple that walked
by, I heard the wife say to the husband, “Look, you could get a job there.” As I
have heard many women say, “I married him for better or for worse, but not for
lunch.”

The final paragraph of Dave
Johnson’s email says that if I think this is a position more suitable for
someone else, to pass it along, so here’s your chance...